discouraged and parties are urged to settle out-of-court. 43 44 State institutions and Iranian authorities have been reportedly unwilling to investigate, punish perpetrators, or provide social services to victims of sexual assault or rape.45 With regards to women’s right to work, a husband can prevent his spouse from pursuing an occupation which he believes to be against family values or harmful to his or her reputation.46 There is no law prohibiting an employer from seeking a husband’s permission for a woman to work and employers have reportedly required engaged or married women to provide a written statement of permission from their husbands in order to be hired.47 Although a number of provisions under Iranian labour laws protect the right to work without discrimination, 48 women are legally barred from being employed in ‘dangerous, arduous or harmful work’.49 Women are also further limited in their right to work as they cannot hold certain positions in the Judiciary or the government under Iranian law.50 Job benefits, such as social security and health insurance, family bonuses or paid overtime, inhere to the man.51 52 Additionally, the Iranian labour code does not provide legal safeguards against discrimination in the hiring process. Although there is a mechanism under the oversight of the Ministry of Labour that is tasked with receiving and analysing complaints related to labour standards, there is no readily available information with regards to the number of received complaints of gender-based discriminations regarding employment or within the workplace, or whether such complaints have been addressed. There are no official and readily available reports of cases of discriminations in the workplace in the Islamic Republic of Iran, yet in practice, non-discrimination provisions reportedly fail to be enforced.53 Reports of women facing discrimination, sexual harassment and assault, notably in the workplace, have gained visibility recently, including on social media in Iran. 54 55 43 UN General Assembly, ‘Situation of human rights in Iran’ (para 32), 31 August 2015, https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2F70%2F352&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop 44 Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Country Information report, Iran, 2020, https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-information-report-iran.pdf 45 Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 2020, https://iranhrdc.org/access-to-justice-for-victims-of-sexual-violence-in-iran/ 46 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Art.1117 < https://shenasname.ir/laws/6664 > 47 Human Rights Watch, ‘It’s A Men’s Club’: Discrimination against Women in Iran’s Labour Market, May 2017 48 Including Articles 6 and 28, The Labor Law: < https://shenasname.ir/laws/kar/1017 > 49 The Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian Labour Code, 1990, Articles 6 and 75. 50 See for instance : Regulations for the appointment of judges of the country: < http://rooznamehrasmi.ir/Laws/ShowLaw.aspx?Code=927 > 51 Articles 1102 to 1119, 1133 to 1142, Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran. https://iranhrdc.org/the-civil-code-of-theislamic-republic-of-iran/ 52 Article 58 of the Social Security Act (adopted on June 24, 1975, and its subsequent amendments): < https://shenasname.ir/laws/tamin/1024 > 53 Human Rights Watch <https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/05/25/its-mens-club/discrimination-against-women-irans-job-market> 54 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35535269 55 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/22/iranians-break-taboos-with-their-own-version-of-metoo ; https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/09/iran-having-its-metoo-moment 5